Simple Thermal Noise Estimation of Switched Capacitor Circuits Based on OTAs -- Part I: Amplifiers with Capacitive Feedback

Abstract: This paper presents a simple method for estimating the thermal noise voltage variance in passive and active switched-capacitor (SC) circuits using operational transconductance amplifiers (OTA). The proposed method is based on the Bode theorem for passive network which is extended to active circuits based on OTAs with capacitive feedback. It allows for a precise estimation of the thermal noise voltage variance by simple inspection of three equivalent circuits avoiding the calculation of any transfer functions nor integrals. In this Part I, the method is applied to SC amplifiers and track&hold circuits and successfully validated by means of transient noise simulations. Part II extends the application of the method to integrators and active SC filters.